Black: EA Lacks Respect for Devs

Bobby Kotick's Activision may be the current public enemy number one when it comes to developer treatment, but renowned FPS designer Stuart Black has spoken out against EA's policy towards its developers. Whilst he praises developers that treat their employees as valuable individuals (and claims that they make better games), he claims that the bigger publishers lack respect for their employees.

"[Developers such as Valve and Blizzard] build on their ideas and themes and the games they develop get richer. But those teams that chop and change on membership, they flounder. I'll pick out, just in broad terms, EA – I don't think there's a lot of respect for individuals on teams, the team members are building blocks that they can just mix and match…"

Stuart went on to explain that he's built a close-knit and passionate team to develop Bodycount, the upcoming spiritual successor to Black at Codemasters Guildford. We're excited to see if they deliver a triple-A product as well as Black's trademark ultraviolence. [The Guardian]

Pachter: No More Console Exclusives "Ever Again"

'Celebrity' industry analyst Michael Pachter has predicted that we've our last platform exclusive from the big publishers. Whilst first-party developers (such as Media Molecule and Rare) will still continue to create exclusive games as per their contracts, Pachter believes that publishers simply won't cut their profits in half by releasing AAA titles as system-specific games.

"I don't think you're going to see Ubisoft or Take-Two or Activision do an Xbox 360 or PS3 exclusive ever again because the install base of the two consoles is just too big to ignore. They'd be giving up way too much unless Microsoft is willing to pay up."

Pachter also predicts that Microsoft will be the worst off from the situation; a situation our very own Matt Gardner has already foreseen.

"I don't think Microsoft is willing to pay up what it's going to take to ignore that whole PS3 crowd."

He's also stated that we can expect to see Splinter Cell Conviction on the PS3 within the year. [Gametrailers Pach Attack via Gamerzines]

Red Dead Redemption to contain Filthy Ultraviolence

Red Dead Redemption, Rockstar's upcoming Western, has been rated M due to excessive swearing, violence and shockingly adult themes. Drugdealing, mutilated corpses and plenty of gore will certainly help shift a few copies thanks to its simple shock value.

“Language such as ‘f**k,’ ‘c*nt,’ and ’sh*t’ can be heard in the dialogue. In one sequence, a bloodied and mutilated corpse can be seen hanging from the rafters of a barn.”- ESRB

It'll be interesting to see whether this overtly controversial and mature content actually makes for a better game rather than a cynical way of netting shock sales. Yeehaw, motherf**kers! [VG247]

Enslaved Gets Countdown Site

Enslaved, Ninja Theory's postapocalyptic current project, is now being teased by a new countdown site. Details are currently very sparse, but apparently a trailer will be incoming... in just under a fortnight.

Enslaved is shaping up to be a rich, futuristic action experience that's based on a classic Chinese legend. We'll keep you up to date with the latest developments as we receive them.

Want to weigh in on EA's developer treatment? Fancy punditing on Pachter? Drop us a line in the comments!

Agreed. Third party exclusives have been dying out for some time. This should, however, be something of a worry for Microsoft, whose stable of first and second party devs leaves much to be desired when compared to Sony's impressive roster. Microsoft work on a contract basis when it comes to exclusivity and considering the rate at which publishing powerhouses like EA are buying up developers I'd suggest that Microsoft might find themselves in a spot of bother over the next few years unless they look to consolidate their own in-house resources.